HC allows CBI to conduct narco test on Patil murder accused

NEW DELHI: In a significant development, the Bombay High Court on Monday said the CBI was free to carry out narco analysis and brain mapping tests on the accused in the V G Patil murder case —Damodar Lokhande and Leeladhar Narkhede.

The widow of V G Patil, who was the president of the Jalgaon district Congress Committee, had filed a petition in July accusing President Pratibha Patil’s brother G N Patil and Ulhas Patil, former Congress MP from the city, to be conspirators behind the murder of her husband in 2005.

The two-member bench comprising justices R M S Khandeparkar and V K Tahilramani, told the CBI that there was no bar on its powers to carry out the investigation against anyone in any manner permissible under the law and that there was no requirement of law that permission from the court was necessary to carry out narco analysis and brain mapping tests on Lokhande and Narkhede. They had been arrested by the police which contended that the duo hired two assassins, Raju Mali and Raju Sonawane, to kill Prof Patil.

The counsel for Narkhede and Lokhande had opposed the CBI’s request for tests on them. Ghulam Vahanavati, Solicitor General and Counsel for the CBI, who had sought permission to conduct the tests also submitted that the agency had got fresh material showing the involvement of Narkhede and Lokhande in the crime. The court observed that the two were accused persons and the CBI was free to conduct the tests as it was part and parcel of the investigation process.

G N Patil was the DCC president till April 2005 and lost to Prof Patil, who levelled charges of corruption and misappropriation of funds against his predecessor. Ms Rajani Patil alleged in her petition that Ms Pratibha Patil had used her political influence during her tenure as governor of Rajasthan to protect her brother. The investigation was handed over to the CBI in April.